Stunning footage filmed by 35th Fighter Squadron F-16s during training activities in Alaska.
Filmed with GoPro cameras by 35th FS pilots, from Kunsan airbase, South Korea, during Red Flag-Alaska 15-1 and Distant Frontier at Eielson Air Force Base, Alaska, in October 2014, the footage contains all what you would expect from a cool aviation video: low-level flying, air combat, high g-load maneuvering, aerial refueling, live firing at the range.
The Squadron deployed with their F-16s from Kunsan airbase, in South Korea, to train with U.S. and international forces and prepare for air expeditionary force tasking.
David Cenciotti is a journalist based in Rome, Italy. He is the Founder and Editor of “The Aviationist”, one of the world’s most famous and read military aviation blogs. Since 1996, he has written for major worldwide magazines, including Air Forces Monthly, Combat Aircraft, and many others, covering aviation, defense, war, industry, intelligence, crime and cyberwar. He has reported from the U.S., Europe, Australia and Syria, and flown several combat planes with different air forces. He is a former 2nd Lt. of the Italian Air Force, a private pilot and a graduate in Computer Engineering. He has written five books and contributed to many more ones.
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10 Comments
question regarding the visors, and I apologize if this sounds like a “stupid question”. What advantage do the new ones have over the older style ones? Is information projected onto these new ones or do they just serve as sun shields?
It is like a hud (heads up display) only it works no matter where you look. Information is projected to the visor all the time and the helmet knows position of pilots head
The cueing system projects info onto the visor for the pilot to see without having to look down an inside. It is similar to a heads-up display but more, with the HOBS (high off boresight) for firing heat seeking missiles by look and shoot (within the parameters of the system).
Nothing is standing still. There is an improve “digital” joint cueing helmet in the works that uses OLED.
What’s the pointy missile on the right wing ?
Its not a missile, its an ACMI Pod, which records the flight data and also transmits it instantly to ground stations. This is especially useful for training, as so the base can keep track of Red air and Blue air, but both do not know where each other are.
It looks like an AIM-120 AMRAAM
ACMI pod.
ACMI (Air Combat Maneuvering Instrumentation). It relays 3D data of simulated engagements to ground controllers.
Marvelous! Can you imagine how our understanding of World War II would have been enhanced if soldiers, sailors and aviators had personal cameras like these. There was only so much combat cameramen could cover.
At the end that was either the pilot firing his cannon or the biggest fart since the age of dinosaurs.
question regarding the visors, and I apologize if this sounds like a “stupid question”. What advantage do the new ones have over the older style ones? Is information projected onto these new ones or do they just serve as sun shields?
It is like a hud (heads up display) only it works no matter where you look. Information is projected to the visor all the time and the helmet knows position of pilots head
The cueing system projects info onto the visor for the pilot to see without having to look down an inside. It is similar to a heads-up display but more, with the HOBS (high off boresight) for firing heat seeking missiles by look and shoot (within the parameters of the system).
Nothing is standing still. There is an improve “digital” joint cueing helmet in the works that uses OLED.
What’s the pointy missile on the right wing ?
Its not a missile, its an ACMI Pod, which records the flight data and also transmits it instantly to ground stations. This is especially useful for training, as so the base can keep track of Red air and Blue air, but both do not know where each other are.
It looks like an AIM-120 AMRAAM
ACMI pod.
ACMI (Air Combat Maneuvering Instrumentation). It relays 3D data of simulated engagements to ground controllers.
Marvelous! Can you imagine how our understanding of World War II would have been enhanced if soldiers, sailors and aviators had personal cameras like these. There was only so much combat cameramen could cover.
At the end that was either the pilot firing his cannon or the biggest fart since the age of dinosaurs.